Mr Key presided over an intense showdown in the United Nations Security Council on Thursday morning (NZT) as the U.S. and Russian Federation tussled over the bloody conflict in Syria.
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John Key will address the UN General Assembly just after midday, and chairs the Security Council early tomorrow morning.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned that trust was breaking down in the US-Russian partnership and said other countries should help push the process forward. The U.S. believes that a Russian-piloted aircraft carried out the strike, said a senior American official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.
This is likely a warning for the P5 regarding tomorrow’s Middle East conflict resolution session, which is already looking futile considering the ongoing power struggle between the U.S. and Russian Federation regarding the recent airstrikes.
Mr Kerry said the bombing of the aid convoy near Aleppo that killed 20 people “raises a profound doubt if Russia” and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime could live up to an agreement recently signed in Geneva to reduce violence in Syria.
“All were clearly aware of the fact that we find ourselves once more at a threshold for Syria”, he said.
Unlike Kerry, who stressed the importance of Assad’s government ending military operations against rebels and allowing in unfettered aid, Lavrov said the USA had the biggest responsibility.
At the same time, the Secretary-General said, it is known that worldwide unity can make a difference, as Council unity and resolve has led to the elimination of Syria’s previously denied chemical weapons programme and the attribution of responsibility for their use. Much of the global community hailed that outcome, only to watch it unravel amid an upsurge in violence that included an accidental USA strike that killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers.
That would presumably be followed by observance of other provisions of the agreement reached by the USA and Russian Federation on September 9.
He further called for a review of a list of terror groups not covered by the ceasefire in the violence-wracked state, stressing that Washington had the biggest responsibility to separate the so-called opposition forces from terrorists. And he declared Syria’s conflict, as well as that of Iraq, Libya and other instable nations, the “direct consequence” of foreign military interventions in the region.
A short distance across the city at United Nations headquarters, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was opening a General Assembly debate with a plea to halt the fighting.
Lavrov on Wednesday mentioned the possibility of a three-day period of “silence” being announced.
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Such drones are armed with air-to-ground missiles, he said, adding, “Only the drone’s owners know what it was doing there at the necessary moment and what tasks it was carrying out”.
